Posted on July 11 2023
Got an early start from home today and was in Lordville by 10:30, unloaded the car, put things away and it still wasn't time for lunch. Ate anyway. Made a roast beef sandwich, opened the potato chips and a Pepsi and went out on the porch to eat. There were two fawns in the yard, one laying down, the other eating tomato leaves through the "deer fence" surrounding the garden. Watched the blue birds visit the box to feed their young, listened to the cat bird sing to his mate on their nest in the flowering quince, and out of the corner of my eye (do eyes have corners?) caught the doe coming down from the hill to nurse her two fawns. Right behind her came her two yearlings (both does). She clearly is the best mom in the area now having raised two sets of twins with no losses to predators.
The fishing - First the good - There were sulfurs hatching at the Hale Eddy Bridge today at 2:00. Now the bad - There wasn't a rise to be seen. I've been stopping at the Hale Eddy Bridge for almost three weeks hoping to find bugs and rising fish with no success. Sulfurs hatching is a step in the right direction. Went upstream a ways and fished a modest hatch in a brisk breeze (at least 10/12). There were almost no risers. Took the bench pressure off right away when I hooked and landed a nice 18 incher. Didn't hook another fish until I had moved even farther upstream where there were also sulfurs and wind. Hooked two nice fish, a brown about the same size as the first and a rainbow of about 15 inches. Got both up close with their heads out of water and my arm extended with the net when the hook (aided and abetted by about a pound of algae around each fishe's nose), pulled out. In the evening I went even further upstream and again found sulfurs but until 8:45, no risers. When they started to feed there were quite a few fish. Hooked five fish and landed four, one of which was a little over 19.
The sulfurs are now hatching in the afternoon at least up into the "No Kill" on the WB. It is getting better day by day. If you are going to fish above the 17 bridge, do so on a hot sunny day. On cloudy, rainy days check the water temp on the Hale Eddy gage and fish where the water temp is over 50.
What is your approach when the fish are clearly feeding on emergers/nymphs just under the surface? i.e dropper, floating nymph pattern, snowshoe emergers etc
Fished the upper WB last night and am now on the bench!! As I was leaving the DEC was their shocking fish. This was after 9. To my knowledge NO fish were killed and the fish that were stunned looked great. Fat and happy. I have some pictures that I will let Dave at the troutfitters get off my phone. I am not that sophisticated. The were aging and tagging the fish. One fish was over 25 in.
My take on algae when using drys is that it is not the flies that gather the most algae, but the fly line. The algae slides along the line down to the fly when you pickup. That argues for more upstream (or downstream) presentations so the line does not cross a lot of current. That can help to prevent the line from sweeping up algae every time you pickup.
Algae is usually a problem this time of year. Could you get a decent float without having to clean off your fly because of algae? My preferred presentation is 45 degrees downstream, but with heavy algae I am forced to modify to a short float of 6 feet or so at 180 degrees.
Jack